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Saturday, August 27, 2011

Jami and I disagreed about this decision - and we had a fairly good discussion.

Jami feels it's okay to force him to take medications, with the assumption that he is suffering and the meds will ease the suffering, and that he may be dangerous to himself or others if not medicated. She also believes he should stand trial.

On the other hand, I do not feel right about forcing him to take medications if he does not want to do so. I also do not believe he should stand trial - in my opinion, he is severely mentally ill (SMI) and should be placed in a secured facility where he can receive treatment and not be sent to prison (where he would also be forced to take medications). Barring some break-through in treatment approaches, he would never be free again.

My sense is that the prosecutors want to medicate him so that he can stand trial, be convicted, and be sentenced to death. On the other hand, they won't let him commit suicide. Our legal system is all about retribution and punishment, not justice.

SAN DIEGO (AP) — Jared L. Loughner, the man accused in theshooting rampage in Tucson, kept himself awake for 50 hours straight after an appeals court stopped his forced medication. He walked in circles until he developed sores and then declined antibiotics to treat an infected foot. Already thin, he stopped eating and shed nine pounds.

U.S. Marshal's Office, via Associated Press

Jared L. Loughner

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Judge Larry Burns of Federal District Court described Mr. Loughner’s behavior in explaining his refusal to overrule prison doctors who decided to resume forced medication on July 18. The drugging, he said, “seems entirely appropriate and reasonable to me.”

The ruling came in a pretrial hearing on Friday that offered insight into Mr. Loughner’s condition at a federal prison in Springfield, Mo., where he is on suicide watch. Mr. Loughner’s lawyers had argued that a court should review whether the forced medication could resume.

Christina Pietz, a psychologist who is treating Mr. Loughner, testified by telephone that he was “less psychotic” than he had been and that she was now more concerned about depression.

She worried that videotaping her sessions with him — as Mr. Loughner’s lawyers requested — would only exacerbate his ills. She said he turned “almost defeated” and withdrawn when she broached the idea on Wednesday.

“He feels as though he has no control about what’s going on around him, and this is just one more element,” she said.

Ms. Pietz said Mr. Loughner sobs uncontrollably at times and steps aside during their meetings to cover his face.